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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28362300">Realized Unreality</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/calicomary/pseuds/calicomary'>calicomary</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Realized Unrealities [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Farscape, Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Crossover, Niche Crossover, Spoilers for everything</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:22:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,320</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28362300</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/calicomary/pseuds/calicomary</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What happened to the John Crouton referenced in Revengers Resemble? Let's find out!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Realized Unrealities [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2077260</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Realized Unreality</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I didn't exactly expect to write this. There are significant spoilers for ALL OF THE MCU and Farscape but there are a few variations as well.<br/>Feel free to comment about typos or whatnot. Or the story too.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Steve would be lying if he said he was glad to see John Crichton. Surprised, yes. Glad, no. He had only agreed to accompany Tony on this “rendezvous mission” because he had been certain it was hopeless, that Crichton was either long gone or long dead. According to Captain Marvel, no one had heard one word John Crouton since a battle between the Scarrans and the Peacekeepers. The Scarran forces had been decimated. Yet despite all odds, here he was , being held prisoner in a research facility on the other side of the universe.</p><p>He looked very much the worse for wear. His hair and beard were shaggy and unkempt.  His clothes were threadbare, and the right half of his face was hidden by a metal mask. He was also raving.</p><p>“You stay on your side!” John screamed and pointed at the far wall. He then pointed to the wall behind him and side, “This is my side,” John pointed again at the other wall, “your side. My side. Your side. My side. Your side.”</p><p>Still, as not glad as Steve was to see John, it will be helpful having him on their side when they escape this fortress.  Steve backed up towards his side of the room and raised his hands in a non-threatening manner, “Ok, ok I’m on my side,” he said.</p><p>John squinted at him with his one eye and asked, “Have we met?”</p><p>What a loaded question. Steve nodded, “Yes we have. My name is Steve Rogers,” Steve said and John barked a maniacal laugh.</p><p>“You are not Steve Rogers. Steve Rogers is dead, went down over the Atlantic decades ago,” John said. “I’d say you were a ghost but you don’t smell like a ghost.”</p><p>Well at least John knew Steve was a real person, even if he had blacked out their previous encounter. “I survived the crash.” Steve said. “They dug me out of the ice 6 years ago. I’m here to rescue you. Tony Stark is here, too.”</p><p>At the mention of Tony’s name life flared into John’s eyes that replaced some of the mania. “Tony Stark…is here?” John trailed off and his eye tracked up to a corner of the room. Steve followed his gaze and recognized the security camera for what it was. John made eye contact with him again and said sternly, “Stay on your side.” Then John addressed the camera. “Scorpius, I want to talk.”</p><p>Steve looked to the door and waited for some guards to storm in, but no one came. He looked over to John and saw the other man had his eye closed. John mouthed silently to some conversation that Steve could not hear. A minute or two later John opened his eye.</p><p>“I’ve convinced him to bring Tony to the cell in exchange for me. He’s been roughed up and they’ll probably do the same to you,” John said. “I know it’s not exactly in your nature but try and act weak and puny. You don’t want them thinking you’re anything other than a deficient ol’ human.”</p><p>Soon enough the guards came, dumped Tony on the floor sans the Iron Man armor, and took John from the cell. Steve helped Tony to sit upright and leaned him against the wall.</p><p>“I told you so,” Tony said breathlessly.</p><p>Steve sighed and admitted, “Yes, you did. You were right and I was wrong. We still need to get him out of here. Where’s your suit?”</p><p>“It is waiting for the right timing,” Tony snapped at Steve. “A better question is what are John and Scorpius talking about right now.”</p><p>“What do you mean?” Steve asked.</p><p>“Scorpius showed me some of the things he did to John. More than what we’ve seen,” Tony stopped speaking and shrugged his shoulders.</p><p>“Well, he recognized me.” Steve said. “And not from comic books.”</p><p>“Not just from comic books,” Tony said. “Did he say anything about me?”</p><p>“His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when I said you were here. So that’s gotta count for something,” Steve said. “Do you have a plan?”</p><p>“I have part of a plan,” Tony said and he grunted while trying to lie down. “I’m gonna sleep on it.”</p><p>Tony slept fitfully until John was returned to the cell. Tony’s jaw dropped at the sight of the Phantom of the Opera style mask John wore. Steve hadn’t mentioned that. John remained where the guards had unceremoniously dumped and Tony crawled to lean over him. “John?” he said softly.</p><p>John’s eye popped open and he inhaled sharply before breaking into a wide grin. “Tony frelling Stark, you have no idea how glad I am to see you!” he said and pulled Tony into an awkward horizontal hug. “Scorpius is always watching but he’s not always listening. Give it 5 microts,” John whispered into Tony’s ear. He let go and Tony pushed himself back to a seated position.</p><p>After a beat of silence Tony asked softly, “What’s a microt?”</p><p>“’Bout 55 seconds,” John said. Tony nodded and looked to Steve. Everyone started an internal count. It was John who broke the silence, “So what the hell are you doing here.”</p><p>“We’re here to break you out,” Tony said.</p><p>“Good luck. I’ve  tried breaking out from inside the cell a few times now and it never works out,” John said.</p><p>“Well you didn’t have Iron Man and Captain America on your side,” Tony said.</p><p>“Who’s Iron Man?” John asked in confusion.</p><p>“I’m Iron Man,” Tony said and pulled his shirt collar down. John eyed the device on Tony’s chest suspiciously and then squeezed his eye shut.</p><p>“What is that?” John asked</p><p>“It’s the casing for an exo-suit’s worth of beyond-cutting-edge nanites that can bust us out of here,” Tony said.</p><p>John shook his head hopelessly, “I can’t,” he said.</p><p>“Uh, yeah you can,” Tony said.</p><p>“I can’t leave Scorpius,” John said.</p><p>“Why not?” Steve asked.</p><p>John looked nervously at Steve and then back to Tony. Then he looked at the wall and spoke, “I don’t know how long I’ve been in the cell. I stopped counting. But near the beginning Scorpius put a chip in my brain that…he’s always watching. I’ve tried to escape, believe me. I even tried killing myself but he won’t.” John chuckled a little uncontrollably before finishing, “He won’t let me. He likes having an insect he can torture.”</p><p>Tony put both hands on John’s shoulders and said, “Chip or no chip, we’re gonna get you out of here. Now, where’s Barbarella Sun?”</p><p>Steve felt a pang of empathy when John appears to look even more confused. He must finally catch the reference though because he said, “Aer-Aeryn. You mean Aeryn Sun?”</p><p>“Yeah. Looks to me like your soulmate left you high and dry,” Tony said flippantly.</p><p>“Aeryn’s dead,” John snapped. “I killed her cycles ago. How do you know about her anyway?”</p><p>Tony opened his mouth but was apparently lost for words since he said nothing. Clones and alternate universes were certainly complicated.</p><p>Steve took up the conversation instead, “John, we met you and Aeryn two years ago when came back to Earth. Do you remember that?”</p><p>John closed his eye and massaged his temple in pain, “My memory isn’t the best these days, but I know for damn sure that I would remember going back to Earth, reuniting with my best friend, and met Captain America.”</p><p>“You were right,” Tony muttered. He saw the look on John’s face and quickly continued “He was right, the other you. He said he was a clone from an alternate universe. I know it sounds crazy.”</p><p>John snorts in maniacal laughter again, “Let me tell you Tony, you don’t know the first thing about crazy. If he said it then I believe it. You should keep your plan to yourself until the last microt or I might ruin it. John closed his eye and seemed to zone out.</p><p>Steve and Tony whispered as they spoke.</p><p>“Carol isn’t going to be back for another 3 days and I am telling you right now I don’t want to go near that Aurora chair,” Tony said.</p><p>Steve gave a full-bodied shake and said, “Neither do I. I agree we can’t wait another 3 days. John might give up the ghost.”</p><p>Tony nodded and said, “Even with my suit and your haymakers we’re going to have a tough time getting out of here.”</p><p>“And then what?” Steve asked.</p><p>“And then we steal a spaceship,” Tony said.</p><p>“That’s a pretty bare bones plan coming from you,” Steve said.</p><p>“I’m outside of my wheelhouse, alright,” Tony said shook his head at himself, “I’m getting too old for this shit. If we do this, if we get John out of this mess and we get back home, I’m retiring for good.”</p><p>Steve sighed heavily and said “Ok.”</p><p>Tony looked a little shocked at Steve’s response. “Ok? That’s it?”</p><p>“Tony the writing has been on the wall since you got back from Titan. I’m surprised it took you this long to say the words out loud. You have a family now and he,” Steve nodded towards John, who was still zoned out, “is going to need your help. You deserve retirement.”</p><p>Tony tapped the device on his chest and the nanites quickly emerged to cover his entire body. Just before the helmet closed shut Tony said loud, “Wake up Joh,, it’s time to blow this popsicle stand.”</p><p>John’s eye popped open and it opened wider once he got a good look at the Iron Man armor, “That. Is. Awesome.” A drop of blood fell from John’s nose but he took no notice of it. “What else does it do?”</p><p>“This,” Tony said and he blasted the door off its hinges. “We’ll take care of the bad guys, you lead us out and find a ship to fly us away.”</p><p>“That’s not a plan that’s a kid’s diagram!” John shouted incredulously.</p><p>“Everyone’s a critic,” Tony said and rolled his eyes for no one to notice.</p><p>Tony made quick work of the various Peacekeepr guards and grunts that came at them as Steve bounded down the hallway with John shouting directions.</p><p>“The dockyard is this way!” John pointed dead ahead and Steve put on a burst of speed. John slowed down and Steve glanced behind to see if something was wrong.</p><p>The drops of blood had turned into a flow that streamed down John’s chin. “I think,” John slurred his words as he spoke. “Actually um, I think, I think you should go and I’m, um, I’m gonna stay here with Scorpius.” Then he slumped to the ground.</p><p>“Oh no you don’t!” Steve said and scooped John into a fireman’s carry.</p><p>“Sorry,” John huffed into Steve’s shoulder. “I tried.”</p><p>“Which ship?” Tony asked urgently.</p><p>“That giant red and black one,” John said. “He’s a friend.”</p><p>“He?” Steve asked suspiciously.</p><p>“We have to get underneath him for access,” John said. Tony swiveled so he could fly backwards briefly while picking off a few of their pursuers. Steve hauled John under the large ship and the other main was finally able to gain his own footing again.</p><p>“Talyn, open up!” John shouted and banged the ship. A panel opened and a set of stairs descended. Steve ran up with John in tow and Tony followed behind. As soon as Tony was on board the stairs retracted and the ship sealed itself. “Talyn these are my friends Iron Man and Captain America.  You ready to get out of here?” A bunch of lights around the ship flashed and noises emanated from the walls. “Then fire up your engines and prime your cannons. We’re gonna have to shoot our way out.” More flashing lights and sound. “I know you do,” John said and winked at Tony. “He likes your armor.”</p><p>Talyn made short work of the soldiers who were still trying to stop the escape. He lifted off unsteadily in the hanger and fired his primary canon at the ceiling. The ship takes some damage as it ascends into the air but superior shielding. After rising a fair distance from the Gammak base Talyn turned his canons downwards and fired at each munition’s storage center. A resounding explosion coincided with John screaming loudly in pain and collapsing to the floor.</p><p>Tony keyed in the sequence for his armor nanites to receded and he hurried to John’s side. “Are you hit?” he asked. “Where are you hit?”</p><p>John shook his head. “I’m not hit. I’m fine. Well, I’m not fine. He’s dead. Scorpius is dead.”</p><p>“How do you know?” Steve asked</p><p>John clenched his fist. “The chip knows, that’s how I know.” He rolled over onto his side and vomited. Talyn made some softer sounds. “You did great buddy,” John said and he patted the floor like one might pat a dog. “If you’re feeling up to it, a Starburst would be a pretty good idea right now.”</p><p>Talyn was feeling up to it.</p><p>“I can’t figure out how to turn the water off,” Steve said as he hurried into the guest quarters.</p><p>“Have you tried asking?” Tony asked from his supine position on the bed.</p><p>“No?” Steve sounded unsure of his own response.</p><p>“It’s a sentient ship,” Tony said. “It’s got guns on the inside, though, so make sure you ask nicely.”</p><p>Steve went back into the shower and said, “Talyn can you turn of the water, please? Thank you!”</p><p>Tony sat up on the bed, “Have you seen John?” he asked.</p><p>Steve shook his head and said, “Not since the Starburst.”</p><p>“I think he’s avoiding me,” Tony said. Tony directed his voice to the ceiling, “Talyn, where is John?” Talyn made several beeps and flashed some lights. “Yeah,” Tony said and shook his head, “The R2D2 stuff isn’t going to work. Can you just show me?” Immediately, a holographic image popped up in front of Tony. John was seated on the floor of a secluded corridor. He had his knees up with his arms wrapped around them and his head lying on them. “Take me to him,” Tony said.</p><p>This time the panels that lit up ran along the floor and pointed out the door. Steve followed Tony as the other man started a light jog through the ship. When they reached John he was in the same position as in Talyn’s transmission. Tony crouched down next to him. “John, talk to me. Tell me what’s going behind those blue eyes.”</p><p>John’s voice was soft, “He knows. The Scorpius in my head knows that the real Scorpius is dead and he blames me for it. He keeps telling me I should kill myself. I’ve been try-I’ve been trying to-”</p><p>“John, look at me,” Tony demanded. John picked his head up and Tony looked him in the eye. “The Scorpius inside your head is a ghost. You’re stronger than he is. Fight him.”</p><p>“Fight him?” John seemed on the verge of helplessness. “How?”</p><p>“It’s your mind,” Steve said. “No matter how long he’s been there, you’ve been there longer.”</p><p>John nodded and said. “That’s some good advice. Thanks, Cap.” John’s gaze drifted right. A minute later he took a deep breath and met Tony’s gaze again. “He’s gone…for now.”</p><p>“Fantastic,” Tony said as he pulled John to his feet. “Now, how do we send an SOS from this thing?”</p><p>“What do we need to send an SOS for?” John asked.</p><p>“To hitch a ride back to Earth,” Tony said. “Starbursting isn’t gonna cut it, right?”</p><p>John grinned and said, “We don’t need Starburst where we’re going. Just a good ol’ fashioned wormhole.”  Talyn beeped vibrantly. “That’s right Talyn, look for an optimal planet we can use for the generation phase. Tony, I’m gonna need your help with the navigation calculations.”</p><p>“What should I do?” Steve asked.</p><p>“If you could regale me with tales of the Howling Commandoes, that would just be a dream come true,” John said with excessive enthusiasm.</p><p>“I will apologize in advance for John because he is perhaps an even bigger Captain America fanboy than Coulson was,” Tony said. </p><p>“Not the war stories mind you,” John said. “The really boring stuff is what interests me. Like, what does hard tack actually taste like?”</p><p>As he and John worked together plotting the course back to Earth, Tony was struck with nostalgia for their early days on the Farscape project. They took a break for food once they established where the Milky Way galaxy was in relation to the planet Talyn had located.</p><p> Steve was already sitting in the dining area when Tony and John walked in. He was staring at a plate of green cubes. “If I understand Talyn correctly, this is supposed to be food,” Steve said.</p><p>“Not food. Food cubes. The Star Trek replicator is bullshit. This is what a real food replicator produces,” John said. He grabbed a cube and popped into his mouth. “I tell ya’ what it tastes better than starving.”</p><p>John scratched under the strap holding his mask in place. It caused the metal to shift slightly and a golden light peaked out from beneath it.</p><p>“Uh,” Tony said and pointed at the light, “What is that?”</p><p>John readjusted the mask and the light vanished.” What’s what?” He asked</p><p>“Don’t play dumb, John,” Tony said. “What’s under the mask.”</p><p>John breathed deeply through his nose before he said, “It’s…complicated. It’s hard to explain.”</p><p>“Then show me!” Tony insisted.</p><p>“John you don’t have to do that,” Steve said. “Tony if you could just <em>try</em> to be sensitive-“</p><p>“He’s right,” john said and he unbuckled the strap around his neck. “It’d be easier to show you.” He slowly pulled the mask away and both Avengers gasped at what they saw: in place of John’s other eye was a shimmering pool of golden light. Tony leaned in close and didn’t realize he had raised his hand to touch it until he felt John grab his wrist. “No touching.”</p><p>“Can you still see out of it?” Tony asked.</p><p> “I see things differently out of it,” he said mysteriously. “You see, on this side of the universe mad scientists get their kicks splicing different species together. It’s some frelled up dren, but it’s not the worst thing that can happen, you know?” John put the mask back in place. He grabbed two more food cubes and sat down across from Steve. “I appreciate you sticking up for the boundaries of a guy you barely know, Cap, but Tony’s my best friend. We don’t have boundaries.”</p><p>“We have <em>some</em> boundaries,” Tony clarified and sat down next to John. He grabbed a food cube, eyed it closely, then swallowed it in one bite. “Delicious and nutritious,” he grumbled.</p><p>“So,” John said and he brings his thumb up to trub at his lower lip, “How’s Pepper?”</p><p>Tony inhales deeply and holds his breath so he doesn’t have to answer.</p><p>Steve picks up on the tension and asks in his faux-innocent voice, “Were you and Pepper friends?”</p><p>“I was gonna ask her to marry me,” John said. “Well, I thought about asking her to marry me. I thought I loved her. Turns out I didn’t know the first thing about love.”</p><p>“Well,” Steve said. “I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that she’s moved on with Tony.”</p><p>John’s eye widened in surprise, “No kidding! I had a hallucination about that exact thing happening.” As the walked back to Talyn’s command center.</p><p>“That is not at all the response I was expecting,” Tony said.</p><p>“And my family?” John asked and his tone became fearful.</p><p>“Susan, Olivia, the kids are all fine. Your parents didn’t make it,” Tony said somberly.</p><p>“So, it happened on Earth too? The Halfening?” John asked.</p><p>Steve nodded and said, “We call it the Blip.”</p><p>John gawked at this. “The Blip?! I’m gonna stick with the Halfening if you don’t mind,” he said. “You ready to get back to work Iron Man? That’s a badass name for a superhero by the way.”</p><p>“You can thank Black Sabbath for it, I had that song stuck in my head for months while I was building the prototype,” Tony said. He managed to choke down one more food cube and dreadfully recalled the last time he had tried to eat this food substitute.</p><p>“So,” John said softly as they left the dining room and head back to the Command Center. He cast a suspicious glance behind them and continued, “I’m getting some weird vibes from Captain America.”</p><p>“Yeah?” Tony said noncommittally.</p><p>“Like he doesn’t trust me,” John said.</p><p>“Well, you did point a gun at his head,” Tony said.</p><p>“When?” John asked incredulously.</p><p>“Right. Sorry, that was the other you,” Tony said.</p><p>John clenched his jaw. “Right,” he said.</p><p>Once they wrap up the calculations, John enters them into Talyn’s navigation console.</p><p>“Listen Tony,” John said. “There’s something we gotta do as soon as we get back to Earth. This chip in my head has gotta come out. It’s got a tracker in it and even though Scorpius may be dead, I’m still a highly valued piece of Peacekeeper property.”</p><p>“What makes you so valuable?” Tony asked.</p><p>“My charming wit,” John said.</p><p>“I’m being serious,” Tony said and he lightly slapped John on the arm in admonishment.</p><p>“So am I.” John said and he slapped Tony back. “I showed them how to make wormhole weapons years ago because I thought once they didn’t need me anymore then they’d put me out of my misery. Scorpius…had other plans.”</p><p>“You got into weapons development?” Tony was taken aback at this. “That’s very unlike you,” he said.</p><p>John rolled his shoulders and said, “People change. Nearly a decade of torture breaks down a person. Or maybe I’m just weak.” John turned his head away to hide his expression. He cleared his throat, “Talyn, you ready for this?”</p><p>“Hey, how come these translator microbes I have don’t translate whatever this ship is saying?” Tony asked.</p><p>“You have translator microbes?” John asked. “Oh, right. Unrealized Reality Crichton Clone. Translator microbes don’t work on Talyn for the same reason they don’t work on dogs. You’ll have to learn the hybrid-Leviathan language the old-fashioned way.” Talyn beeped and John tilted his head in thought at whatever Talyn said. “Well,” he replied, “Tony is a sentient being, why don’t you try asking him.” Talyn flashed a light in the floor. John then spoke to Tony and said, “He’s been looking for a co-captain for a while now. Someone who will take neural transponder. He’s impressed by your unity with the Iron Man suit. If you were looking for a shortcut to understanding him then that’s it.”</p><p>Tony blinks and asks rhetorically, “He’s impressed by our <em>unity?</em>”</p><p>“Don’t leave him hanging,” John said seriously. “This is important.”</p><p>“Sorry,” Tony held up his hands defensively and repeated,” Sorry. Talyn, thank you for the offer but at this time, I’m going to have to decline.”</p><p>“Don’t worry, Talyn,” John said and patted a bulkhead affectionately. “There are other fishes in the sea. Can you put me on speaker?” A few flashes of light “Paging Captain America, you are needed in the command center. All wormholes need to be experienced in first person POV.” He swiveled his head to face Tony and , “You think he’d get weird if I asked for an autograph?”</p><p>“Yeah probably,” Tony said. He then clapped John on the shoulder, “But you can ask him about all the Howling Commando sleeping arrangements. He loves talking about that.”</p><p>A few minutes later Steve arrived at a light jog. “Just so I’m clear,” he said, “We’re going to be traveling through a wormhole on a ship that, as far as I can tell, has no seatbelts.”</p><p>“Right?!” John said in agreement. “I’ve made the ‘seatbelts save lives’ argument a hundred times with him.”</p><p>“What does he say about it?” Steve asked, genuinely curious.</p><p>“Seatbelts just aren’t in his DNA,” John said.</p><p>“Huh,” Steve said and nodded a few times.</p><p>“Ok Talyn,” John said, “just like we practiced. Remember, speed doesn’t count for anything unless you get the angle right.”</p><p>“Should we hold onto to something?” Tony asked.</p><p>“Probably,” John said. A light flashed on the navigation console. “Here we go.”</p><p>The trip back to Earth was brief but arduous. More than just the sensation of flying through an astronomical myth, now realized, were the effects Tony could feel it having on his body.</p><p>“I feel like my blood was literally trying to boil its way out of my veins,” Tony said.</p><p>“You’re not wrong. It takes a special kind of phase shielding to withstand wormhole radiation,” John said. “Now are there any kind of global alerts we may have just triggered by popping up in orbit in a warship? Oh hang on, there’s a transmission coming in. Put it on speaker, Talyn.”</p><p>“-<em>do not identify yourselves immediately then you will be destroyed.”</em> The threatening message echoed across the ship.</p><p>“Rhodey!” John shouted, “Is that you?!”</p><p>“<em>Identify yourselves immediately,” </em>Rhodey repeated himself.</p><p>“Stand down War Machine,” Steve said. “This is Captain America and Iron Man. We commandeered this…ship and we have a VIP on board. Could you send up a Quinjet?”</p><p>“War Machine?” John whispered to Tony. “It’s a little on the nose.”</p><p>“Yeah, the DoD ignored my notes about the name when they ripped off my suit,” Tony said.</p><p>“<em>You guys are back already?” </em>Rhodey sounded surprised. “<em>Who’s the VIP?”</em></p><p>“We’ll tell you all about it once were planet-side,” Tony said. He whispered to John, “The other John left a little dramatically so it’s best to keep you a secret for now.”</p><p>John nodded and said, “He didn’t…hurt anyone did he?”</p><p>“No, he just caused a media spectacle,” Tony said.</p><p>“And a giant alien spaceship orbiting the planet won’t?” John said.</p><p>“Eh, alien spaceships aren’t exactly new around here anymore,” Tony said.</p><p>John ran a hand across his lip. “So, there are recordings, news reports, that kind of thing?” he said.</p><p>“More than the P.R. department would have liked,” Tony said cryptically. “Although I’m not sure you’re ready for that.”</p><p>“You don’t know what I’m ready for!” John snapped.  </p><p>Talyn started flashing a red light and a siren blared.</p><p>“That’s just the Quinjet!” Steve said. The flashing and blaring stopped.</p><p>John nodded and said, “Stand down Talyn, these are our friends, and we don’t shoot our friends. Go ahead and deploy the docking web.” John began walking and waved for Steve and Tony to follow.</p><p>By the time they reached the hangar the Quinjet had powered down and Natasha Romanoff was walking down the exit ramp.</p><p>“Can’t say I expected to see you again,” Natasha said.</p><p>“Well, I didn’t expect to see you for the first time but here we are,” John said. He stuck out his hand, “The name’s John Crichton. And you are?” Natasha looked to Tony for explanation.</p><p>“Long story short, the clone was telling the truth about being from an alternate universe,” Tony said.</p><p>Natasha absorbed this information, shook John’s hand, and said, “I’m Natasha Romanoff.” She motioned to the Quinjet. “Shall we?”</p><p>As John had requested, Tony flew the Quinjet directly to Johns Hopkins Hospital and their neurosurgery department. Also at John’s request, they did not send a communication to any of the remaining Crichton clan about John’s survival. “I’m definitely not ready for that,” he had said. </p><p>After John had been led away for some scans, Tony called Pepper to tell her the good news and not so good news. “They’re gonna do a CT scan first and then an MRI, then hopefully it’ll be straight to the O.R.,” he said. She wanted to come to the hospital. He had gotten unbelievably bad at being able to tell her no. She was bringing Morgan because of course she would bring Morgan.</p><p>Once the conversation with Pepper was over, Tony confirmed with F.R.I.D.A.Y where John’s room was and headed in that direction. His phone rang. Rhodey.</p><p>“Hey,” Tony said.</p><p>“I’m at the hospital. What room is he in?” Rhodey asked breathlessly.</p><p>“304. He isn’t here yet,” Tony said as he entered the empty room. Soon enough Rhodey was in the room as well and then an orderly was wheeling John in with a doctor following behind. The doctor held a tablet and hit the screen a few times and an image of John’s brain projected into the air.</p><p>“This is going to be complicated,” The doctor said.</p><p>“What the fuck is that?” Rhodey asked and peered closer at the image.</p><p>“That is what was described as a neural chip,” The doctor said and glared sternly at Tony and John. “This is not a chip. It’s web tied to nearly every significant and insignificant portion of your brain. If you ask me, it’s a torture device.”</p><p>“Can you remove it?” John and Tony asked simultaneously.</p><p>The doctor inhaled and exhaled heavily. “I can try. I can’t make you any guarantees about the outcome. Whether you’ll survive or what kind of recovery will be possible or even if I can get the whole thing out.”</p><p>John swallowed and said, “Do it. Dying on the table would probably be the best outcome anyway.”</p><p>“That’s…” the doctor sighed and said. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. There’s someone coming in here with some waivers for you to sign.” The doctor left.</p><p>“That’s morbid thing to say, John,” Rhodey said.</p><p>“If Mercutio can do gallows humor then I can do it, too” John said.</p><p>“Mercutio died,” Pepper said from the doorway, a sleeping Morgan in her arms. “You won’t.”</p><p>John’s eye widens when he gets a good look at the young child. “A baby!” He whispered.</p><p>Pepper nodded and walked fully into the room. John waved at her to come closer. “Wow. Captain America told me about you and Tony. That’s great. It really is. And she’s adorable,” he said and nodded towards Morgan. Pepper handed Morgan off to Tony so she could hug John gently. She briefly ran her fingers across his mask, “What’s this?” she asked.</p><p>John grabbed her hand and jerked it away from his face. He countered his action with a hurried apology, “Sorry! Please don’t touch it. I’m, um, more sensitive around that area than I used to be.”</p><p>Pepper nods and pulls her hand back. “Tony said you <em>don’t</em> want to call Susan or Olivia?” she sounds uncertain.</p><p>John shakes his head, and says “I don’t…I can’t…right now. Maybe when the chip is gone.”</p><p>“It’s just with your parents death and-“ Pepper started.</p><p>“My parents aren’t dead,” John said.</p><p>“I told you, they died in the Blip,” Tony said.</p><p>“No, they didn’t. Nobody died,” John said. He pointed to the mask, “If there was that much death in a single instance in the universe then I would have noticed it. Wherever they are, they’re not dead.”</p><p>Silence reigned for a few moments.</p><p>Then Rhodey said, “What do you mean you would have noticed?”</p><p>“I was once a co-experimental subject with a very special Banik whose primary function was guiding dying souls into the afterlife. One day a DNA mad scientist asked himself whether the ability could be replicated in another species,” John said.</p><p>More silence.</p><p>Then Pepper asked, “Can it?”</p><p>John shrugged and said, “Kinda? I take it the other John didn’t have this problem,” Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper shake their heads. “Figures,” John muttered, and he started picking at the blanket covering his knees. “About that news footage, Tony...”</p><p>Tony nodded. He switched Morgan to his other hip and pulled out his phone, “YouTube or Google?” he asked John.</p><p>John tilted his head and said, “I don’t know what that means.”</p><p>“YouTube it is,” Tony said and started typing one-handed into the search menu. “Search for ‘John Crichton’s wife 2016’ and there you are.” Tony handed the phone to John as it started to play a TMZ recording of Aeryn and Hawkeye loaded down with shopping bags.</p><p>John stared at the video, mesmerized. “Isn’t she beautiful?” he asked no one in particular.</p><p>“If you’re into Space Nazis,” Tony said.</p><p>“Aeryn was not a Space Nazi!” John said ferociously. “She was an ex-Space Nazi.” He turned his attention back to the video. “And she was right here.”</p><p>An orderly knocked on the room with a tablet it hand. “Mr. Crichton, I have some waivers for you to sign,” she said. She held the tablet it and John took it from her.</p><p>“You got a pen?” John asked the room.</p><p>“You can just use your finger,” The orderly said. Her nametag said Christi.</p><p>John blinked several times at the tablet and hit it a few times with his finger. “Got it,” he said and began clicking through the various consent agreements. “You have no idea what a relief it is to read in English again. Liability, I <em>know</em> that I know what that word means!” As John neared the last of the waivers his tapping slowed and eventually stopped.</p><p>Tony frowned at John’s inaction and said, “If you don’t sign then the surgery doesn’t happen.”</p><p>John grit his teeth and said, “I know that. I’m trying.”</p><p>“What’s stopping you?” Rhodey asked in concern.</p><p>“What do you think?” John snapped. His hand began shaking from the strain of fighting against the neural clone. He squeezed his eye shut to concentrate.</p><p>“The chip is that strong?” Pepper asked.</p><p>“It made me kill the woman I love most In the universe,” John said in lieu of an answer.</p><p>“Wait,” Tony said. “Yesterday you said it wanted you to kill yourself. Now it doesn’t.”</p><p>John’s eye popped open and it looked…different. His postured straightened from its slouch and when he spoke his voice carried a softer lilt than usual. “Yesterday I was grieving the loss of my physical self.” John threw the tablet across the room and it smashed into the wall. “In the intervening hours I have had an epiphany.” John’s arm snapped out and he grabbed Pepper by the throat, simultaneously hopping out of the bed. Both Tony and Rhodey stepped forward and John took a step back, dragging Pepper with him, “Take one step closer and I will crush her throat.”</p><p>Pepper clawed at John’s arm. “Fight him, John” she gasped.</p><p>“He can no longer fight me anymore than he can fight his own nature. You see, this body,” John paused to close his eye and lick his lips. He opened his eye and smirked at Tony “once belonged to our master and now that our master is dead…well…it belongs to me.”</p><p>“You see, this body,” Scorpius paused to close John’s eye and lick his lips. He opened his eye and smirked at Tony, “once belonged to our master and now that our master is dead…well…it belongs to me. In fact-” John’s body convulsed briefly and then he released his grip on Pepper and pushed her away. “Somebody needs to knock me out before this situation gets more frelled up than it already is!”</p><p>Rhodey obliged and stepped forward. “Sorry,” he said as he pulled back his fist.</p><p>“Don’t be,” John said and winked. “I’ll get you back for it.” Rhodey swung and hit hit John right in the sweet spot under his jaw. John collapsed in a boneless heap.</p><p>“I thought that Harvey character was harmless,” Rhodey said.</p><p>Tony shook his head and said, “Harvey was a pooka. This is the real deal. Honey, take Morgan,” Tony said and he handed his daughter off to Pepper. Speaking to Rhodey, he said, “Help me get him back on the bed.” Once John was back on the mattress, Tony distributed some nanites across John’s wrists to tie them to the bedrails.</p><p>“So, this is the real John, our John?” Pepper asked and Tony nodded. “He’s been alive this whole time?”</p><p>“Apparently,” Tony said succinctly.</p><p>“What about the real Scorpius?” Rhodey asked.</p><p>“Like he said,” Tony nodded at John, who was starting to come around. “The real Scorpius dead.”</p><p>“Why don’t you want to see your family?” Pepper asked John directly.</p><p>“Pep, I’ve done things. Not just things that I’m not proud of but things that I hate myself for and if I have to face my family right now,” John said looking her in the eye and begging for understanding. Then he slapped the bed. “Son of a bitch I didn’t finish signing the waivers. Can’t one of you do that for me?”</p><p>“Yeah I got it,” Tony said, picking up the tablet. “So, what did the doctor have to say about your very special eye.” He said while tapping through the last of the documents.</p><p>“She was worried about any neural connection to my brain but there’s nothing to worry about. The optic nerve is gone and it doesn’t exist entirely on this plane. I told her to just pretend it’s like game of Operation,” John said. Everyone chucked and John nodded. “You got the joke, all is right with the world.</p><p>Christi came back in the room and asked cheerfully, “Are we all set?”</p><p>“Yep!” Tony said and he handed her the tablet. “The Ts are crossed and the Is are dotted.”</p><p>“Perfect,” Christi took the tablet and placed it in a slot at the head of the bed. “Alright Mr. Crichton, it’s time to get you prepped for surgery. Y’all are welcome to wait here or in the lobby but we honestly have no idea how long this might take,” She said to the others. Then John was gone again.</p><p>“Ok,” Pepper said. “I’m going to call the babysitter and then you,” she pointed at Tony, “are going to tell me everything you know so far.”</p><p> One hour and several digressions into quantum physics that only Tony understood later, he wrapped up with, “And you know the rest.”</p><p>“So, the clone was right,” Pepper said. </p><p>“Yes, the clone was right, and I was wrong. I let my guilt about John blind me to the infinite possibilities of the universe,” Tony said.</p><p>“And you didn’t even need B.A.R.F. to help you admit that” Pepper said.</p><p>Rhodey’s phone beeped with an alert and he checked the message. “Damn, the WSC wants an update on that Leviathan ASAP,” Rhodey said as he typed a message back. </p><p>“Don’t point guns at him and he won’t point guns at you,” Tony said. “Shouldn’t someone be coming out to give us an update?”</p><p>No sooner did he speak than Christi popped into the room. “Dr. Cho wanted me to give you an update. When she first attempted to disconnect the device, we believe it stopped Mr. Crichton’s heart.”</p><p>“Oh no!” Pepper breathed.</p><p>“You got it started again, right?” Tony asked.</p><p>Christi nodded and said, “Yes, and Dr. West is now targeting its connections to the autonomic center of Mr. Crichton’s brain. After that she’ll move onto the linguistic center. We think that by working In segments we’ll have a better chance to get the whole thing out in one go.”</p><p>“Right,” Tony said. “I guess you should get back to it then,” he said to Christi. She smiled, nodded, and bounced away.</p><p>Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache coming on. “Have you talked to Steve recently?” He asked Pepper.</p><p>“No, why?” Pepper asked.</p><p>“Nice of him to let me give you the good news myself,” Tony said.</p><p>Pepper frowned and asked, “What’s the good news?”</p><p>“I’m retiring from the Avengers as of yesterday,” Tony said emphatically.</p><p>Peppers jaw dropped, “First John comes back and now this. Will wonders never cease?”</p><p>“I don’t want Morgan growing up without her father because he finally got killed for playing the hero one too many times. I don’t want to end up lost on the other side of the universe for 20 years because my ego got the best of me,” Tony said.</p><p>Pepper put her hand on his arm and said, “Tony, you don’t have to convince me. I’ve been trying to convince you, remember?”</p><p>Tony heaved a sigh of relief, “Right. I’m not ready to move to Florida, though.”</p><p>Pepper nodded and said, “I agree. I was thinking we could renovate your dad’s cabin in the Catskills. John will need someplace out of the public eye to rehab.”</p><p>“Were you even going ask me my opinion on letting John stay in our retirement house?” Tony asked.</p><p>“No, because I already know your opinion,” Pepper said with a smile.</p><p>The surgery took 16 hours and John came out of it the worse for wear as far as Tony can tell.</p><p>“They shaved your head, you poor bastard,” Tony said. “The swelling is gross too. But you’re chip free! We smashed it to bits. No one is tracking you now.” John’s eye moved sluggishly as it tried to track Tony while he paced around the room. “Listen, Pepper and I have talked about it and, if you don’t object, we’d like to do your rehab at our place. She wanted to be here by the way.” John groaned. ”That’s what I told her but she said ‘Tony, you can’t expect an 18 month old to look after herself.’” John chuckled and Tony grinned. “Yeah, I thought you were still in there.”</p><p>“Stark,” John said.</p><p>“What’s up?” Tony asked.</p><p>“No,” John said. He moved his mouth a few times with no sound, then said, “Stark.”</p><p>“I’m here, John,” Tony said. John grunted in frustration. “Don’t get upset, Dr. West said you might have problems with speech but it’ll come back soon enough. Try this,” Tony handed John his phone to see if he could type out a message.</p><p>
  <em>The Banik’s name was Stark. I thought it was a sign when I met him. Saw him while I was in surgery.</em>
</p><p>Tony’s eyebrows crawled up his forehead. “Wow,” he said. “Anyway, they want you to stay in post-op for another 24 hours and then we can get you back to the real world.”</p><p>John nodded and closed his eye, drifting quickly into sleep. Tony snagged his phone before John dropped it on the floor. He dialed Rhodey first.</p><p>“How’s John?” Rhodey asked immediately.</p><p>“He’s asleep. Doc says it’s a long road to recovery, but we all knew that already,” Tony said. He stepped outside of the room and closed the door softly. “How’s the Talyn situation?”</p><p>“Rocket seems to have developed a…friendship with…it?” Rhodey sounded unsure.</p><p>“Him. He identifies as male,” Tony said. “Did Rocket say anything about becoming the captain?”</p><p>“…. No,” Rhodey said. “I thought John was the captain.”</p><p>“Apparently they’re just friends,” Tony said.</p><p>“Steve told us what you said to him while you were in the Uncharted Territories. You really think retirement is gonna stick this time?” Rhodey asked.</p><p>“I have more to live for now than I ever have before and I’m tired of risking it,” Tony said.</p><p>“You don’t have to justify yourself, Tony”, Rhodey said. “You do have let me roast you at your retirement dinner.”</p><p>John was discharged from the hospital after 24 hours of observation with a bag full of prescriptions and a binder’s worth of rehab instructions. The swelling around John’s head and face had gone down enough that his mask could be fitted on loosely. Tony pushed John’s wheelchair while Pepper walked beside them out to the waiting Audi.</p><p>“I don’t understand why you’re sticking with that mask instead of a cool new eyepatch. Eyepatches make you look badass,” Tony said, helping to transfer John from wheelchair to car’s backseat. The wheelchair went in the trunk and Pepper got in beside John. Tony hopped into the driver’s seat. </p><p>“It’s not. Just. Stark” John was still having trouble finding words so he pulled out his new phone and began typing.  <em>It’s not just a mask. It’s a ritual object that I need to keep my promise to Stark.</em></p><p>Pepper looked suspiciously at Tony, “What promise is he talking about, Tony?”</p><p>Tony shrugged innocently and said, “I don’t know. I didn’t ask him to make any promises.”</p><p>John tapped Pepper’s hand and pointed at the phone. <em>Not him. The other Stark.</em></p><p>Pepper’s eyes widened incredulously, “There’s another Tony Stark.”</p><p>“No just another guy named Stark. He was your DNA donor right?” Tony asked. John nodded. “And you saw him while you were under anesthesia in surgery” John nodded again. “Haven’t you heard the age-old adage that what happens in hallucinations stays in hallucinations?” Tony asked.</p><p>John shook his head. <em>Not a hallucination. A reason to live. I am going to be a Stykera.</em></p><p>“A stickra?” Pepper said in befuddlement.</p><p>John spoke, “Sty-key-rah.” <em>I’ll explain later.</em></p><p>“Well,” Pepper said to change the topic, “Tony and I have a proposition for you.”</p><p>John furrowed his brows. <em>I’m not really into that anymore.</em></p><p>Pepper snorted and said, “Not that kind of proposition. Since you are still being stubborn about contacting your family, we’d like to invite you to stay with us for your recovery.”</p><p> John’s eye got watery and he turned his head away from Pepper while he typed out a response on the phone.  <em>Thanks. Not sure that’s the best place for me.</em></p><p>“And what is?” Pepper asked.</p><p>
  <em>Padded cell?</em>
</p><p>“Not funny,” Pepper said and she lightly swatted John on the arm.</p><p>“Ow,” John said.</p><p>John’s physical recovery progressed quickly. The same could not be said of his mental recovery.</p><p>“He won’t even entertain the notion of talking to a therapist,” Tony vented to Steve via cellphone. Pepper was in the city taking care of business. The subject of their conversation was outside blowing bubbles for Morgan who spent half her time chasing them and half her time falling down. “I still can’t believe you kicked him out of your support group.”</p><p>“He was being belligerent and threatening to commune with people’s dead loved ones.  Group therapy is not for him. Have you suggested B.A.R.F.?” Steve asked.</p><p>“Not yet, I had a hard enough time trying to get him to use it last time,” Tony said.</p><p>“You mean getting the other John to use it,” Steve said.</p><p>Tony shrugged, “Whatever. The point is he’d rather wake himself up screaming every night than face up to his issues.”</p><p>“He’s hardly the only one. You know, the healers in Wakanda really did great work with Bucky,” Steve said. “I could reach out to Okoye if you want.”</p><p>Tony saw John put the bubbles away and take Morgan gently by the hand. “I’ll let you know,” Tony said and he disconnected the call just as the other two walked and toddled in. “Ready for a lunch break?” he asked the pair.</p><p>“Ya-ya, da-da,” Morgan said.</p><p>John lifted Morgan up into her highchair and said, “There you go little miss. What’s on the menu?”</p><p>Tony pointed to the stovetop where he had just placed 3 sandwiches into a pan. “Grilled cheese,” He said.</p><p>John made a face and said, “Think I’ll pass.”</p><p>“Because it’s hot or because it’s crunchy?” Tony asked.</p><p>John opened and closed his mouth a few times. Finally the words came to him. “Because I don’t like eating in front of you. Because nothing tastes the way that I remember it.”  </p><p>“No!” Morgan said emphatically.</p><p>“Well, it’s true!” John directed this statement to Morgan. “I make faces and I know I make faces and because you’re you, and I love you Tony please don’t stop being you, but because you’re you you’ll make a comment and I have no desire to hear it. There, I said it. By the power of talk-therapy, I must be all better now, right?” John said with a manic grin.</p><p>Tony flipped the sandwiches then pointed at John with the spatula, “Don’t mock talk-therapy.”</p><p>“Of course, you’d say that, you love talking,” John said.</p><p>“Pots and kettles, my friend, pots and kettles.” Tony said and moved each sandwich to a plate. He cut up Morgan’s sandwich into toddler-sized bites. ?” He put John’s sandwich in a Tupperware container. He set Morgan’s plate on the highchair and handed John his container. “Besides, aren’t you the one who said I should see a therapist after my parents died.</p><p>John sighed heavily and said, “Yeah. Things were simpler back then, weren’t they?”</p><p>“You’re not wrong,” Tony said and plopped down at the table. “You are still eating right, even if we never see it?” John nodded. “Because you look thin.”</p><p>“What’s it gonna take to get you to stop mother-henning me?” John asked.</p><p>“Honestly? More of this,” Tony said and he gestured between the two of them, “Talking about what’s bothering you so we can come up with solutions. Look, I know you think you’re beyond help but you’re not.”</p><p>John looked away and muttered, “What makes you so sure?”</p><p>“You know how my parents died in a car accident?” Tony asked. John nodded, “Well it wasn’t an accident. They were murdered.”</p><p>“No way!” John said.</p><p>“By Bucky Barnes and yes, that Bucky Barnes,” Tony said, anticipating John’s next question. “Maybe one day I’ll tell you the whole megillah but suffice it to say he did because he was brainwashed after decades of torture and mental manipulation.” Tony paused. “Sound familiar?”</p><p>“Not exactly,” John said stubbornly. A moment later he continued, “And? What happened to him?”</p><p>“He got help from some doctors in Wakanda,” Tony said.</p><p>John chewed on his lip and said, “It’s not that I don’t want help but if I was honest, really and truly honest, about what I’ve been through they wouldn’t just put me in a padded cell. I would have walked into that shrink’s office as John, traumatized astronaut, and I would have walked out John, the mass murderer. They’d put me in the deepest, darkest prison on the planet..”</p><p>“I wouldn’t let them,” Tony said.</p><p>“That’s not very ‘truth, justice, and the American way of you’, Superman,” John said.</p><p>“I’m not Superman. I’m Iron Man,” Tony said. “And you’re my friend.”</p><p>“Fend!” Morgan said happily.</p><p>John considered his options and said, “Is Barnes in the phone book? It’d be nice to talk with someone who could relate.”</p><p>Tony winced and said simply, “He was lost in the Halfening. But there’s another guy who could relate and I happened to have all of his B.A.R.F. sessions at Friday’s disposal.”</p><p>John made a face, “Why would you record someone’s barf sessions? What, have Vomitoria made a comeback since I was gone.”</p><p>“It’s a memory recall device my company developed,” Tony said. “The other John used it a few times.”</p><p>John looked doubtful and said, “You sure he was my clone?”</p><p>“He looked <em>just</em> like you. He walked like you. He talked like you. He <em>was</em> you!” Tony said.</p><p>Unraveling for the last 20 years while somewhere else in the multiverse a guy with my face has married my dream girl and is living my best life.”</p><p>“I don’t know if I would call it your best life,” Tony said.</p><p>“If Aeryn’s alive in it, then it is,” John said. Tony didn’t know what to say to that so John filled the silence. “Listen, I don’t know what B.A.R.F. is an acronym for but it’s terrible. You should call it M.E.M.B.A. like that history scene from Thunderdome. ‘Memba this!?”</p><p>“What does it stand for?” Tony asked.</p><p>“Motion Environment Something-that-starts-with-an-M Binary Augmentation,” John said.</p><p>Tony considered the new name and said, “Yeah I can work with that. ”</p><p> </p>
<ol>
<li><strong> Few. Years. Later.</strong></li>
</ol><p>John was fishing when Steve, Natasha, and Ant-Man showed up to convince Tony of the dire need to invent time travel. Tony told them he couldn’t do it. John would have told them it was certain to end in disaster.</p><p>Then Tony woke him in the middle of the night. “I need you to spitball with me,” Tony said. John’s mask had shifted in his sleep and a little golden light peaked out from beneath it.</p><p>“No,” John said.</p><p>“You don’t even know what I’m proposing to spitball about,” Tony said.</p><p>“I don’t need to know because I’ve got a bad feeling about it,” John said.</p><p>“A bad feeling like heartburn or the other kind of bad feeling?” Tony asked.</p><p>“The other kind,” John said. This gave Tony pause. He had borne witness to 3 premonitions of serious injury. John’s bad feelings were not to be discounted. “There’s a cost to bring people back like that.”</p><p>“And how long have you been telling everyone that they’re not really dead?” Tony asked rhetorically. “Right. They’re in some kind of limbo like the Nazgul, neither living nor dead. And how long have you been preaching that your life’s goal is figuring out how to help them.”</p><p>“How to help them move on!” John said.</p><p>“So, you’d rather they <em>were </em>dead,” Tony said.</p><p>“Don’t twist my words like that!” John growled. “The closer I got to figuring out wormholes the more I was warned about the destruction time travel can bring.”</p><p>“Then help me,” Tony said.</p><p>John ran his thumb across his lower lip and finally said, “If you can figure it out, I will assist you in building a time machine Not the design, mind you, just the construction. And talk to Pepper before you make any big decisions. I’m going back to sleep now.”</p><p>When dawn broke and John made his way outside for his morning meditation. Tony had nodded off at the dining room table. A hologram of a mobius strip hovered above the image display. A full body shiver overtook John as he grasped the meaning of the image. Tony had done it. Now John had to put up or shut up.</p><p>“You have nothing to be nervous about,” Tony said as he zoomed along the highways to upstate New York. John sat in the passenger seat.  </p><p>“Did you or did you not have a discussion with Thor, over ice cream I might add, about killing me?” John asked.</p><p>“John, that was years ago,” Tony said. “People change.”</p><p>“Weather changes,” John said. “People just keep making the same mistakes.” He glanced meaningfully at Tony.</p><p>“Don’t give me that look,” Tony said and waved away the bad vibes.</p><p>Tony hadn’t called ahead but Steve Rogers was stationed outside the front entrance when the pulled up. He looked quite despondent until he saw Tony step out of the car.</p><p>“Why the long face?” Tony said. “Let me guess, he turned into a baby.”</p><p>“Among other things, yeah” Steve said with a nod. “What are you doing here?</p><p>“It’s the EPR Paradox.” Tony said</p><p>“Instead of pushing Lang through time you may have ended up pushing time through Lang,” John said helpfully from the passenger seat.</p><p>“It’s tricky,” Tony continued as exited the car. “And pretty dangerous. Someone should have cautioned you against it.”</p><p>“You did,” Steve said.</p><p>“Oh did I?” Tony asked facetiously. “Well, thank god I’m here.”</p><p>John slowly stepped out of the car, holding the tablet with the machine schematics close to his chest.</p><p>“John,” Steve said pleasantly. “I didn’t expect to see you.”</p><p>“I’m just here to assist on this very bad idea,” John said.</p><p>“Is that right?” Steve said.</p><p>“I told Tony and I’ll tell you and anyone else who asks, time travel costs more than it’s worth,” John said.</p><p>Despite John’s warning, the Avengers were somehow surprised that one of their own had fallen in pursuit of the Soul Stone. John remained far back with the other B-Team Avengers during the memorial for Natasha, trying to avoid the psychic waves of pain emanating from the dock. If he got too close he might say out loud that he’d rather it was Natasha that was lost than Tony.</p><p><em>How selfish? </em>Scorpius said.<em> That you would rather your one friend be spared than that half of the universe would be restored to existence.</em></p><p>“Shut up,” John said.</p><p>
  <em>If you continue on this path we will both regret it. </em>
</p><p>“What do you think?” John asked.</p><p><em>It’s not going to bring me back, John. </em>Aeryn said.</p><p>John blinked harshly and sniffed. “You don’t know that” He said. “Accidents happen all the time.”</p><p>“It wasn’t an accident!” Clint said angrily, suddenly in front of John’s face. “You knew, didn’t you?”</p><p>“I told you time travel was dangerous,” John said.</p><p>“You knew,” Clint repeated. “You knew she would die, and you helped us do it anyway. Or maybe you’re just a bad luck charm.”</p><p>“Clint,” Tony said, and he tried to put a comforting arm on Clint’s shoulder. Instead, the other man shrugged him off and stormed away.</p><p>Steve eyed John warily and asked, “Did you know?”</p><p>“I told you there would be a cost.” John said. “I have one eye permanently on the afterlife. What did you think I meant?”</p><p>“And what do you see now with your very special eye?” Tony asked.</p><p>“I can see Natasha. I can also see the rest of them,” John said.</p><p>“Who?” Steve asked.</p><p>“Who do you think? Peter Parker, Barton’s family, Dr. Strange, Elton John, and the Spice Girls. All of them. They’re closer to actual, REAL death, than they’ve been since the Halfening,” John said.</p><p>“So, it’s failing?” Steve said in surprise. “The plan is failing.”</p><p>“Of course, the plan is failing, Steve! Look, I get that you are technically a nonagenarian but in terms of life experiences, I think I have you beat because I’m technically in my 50s. And in my experience, in this universe you get screwed. You ever been screwed before?” John asked sincerely. Steven jolted back at the question. John clarified, “And when I say screwed, I mean <em>screwed: </em>No way out of the situation. In fact, the only reason you survived was a miracle from outer space.”</p><p>Steve didn’t have to think long before he said, “Yeah, I’ve been screwed.”</p><p>John bobbed his head up and down in agreement. “Of course, you have,” he said, happy to establish some connection with the other man after years of standoffishness. Who knew that it was directly working with the Avengers that would do it?  “Cap, you’re getting screwed right now. And you can either do what you always do and fight back, which didn’t work last time, or you can accept the facts on the ground and move on. Remember moving on?” John asked. He didn’t wait for anyone to answer before saying “It’s not too late.”</p><p>As per usual, nobody really listened to what John had to say. Tony, Bruce, and Rocket began building their own Gauntlet.  </p><p>Rather than assisting, John meditated. Well, he tried to meditate. The prospect of feeling the actual deaths of billions of life forms was not something he looked forward to. He wondered what Stark truly felt when 10,000 of his own people had been murdered at once.</p><p>Someone laid a hand on his shoulder and he jerked out from under it, shooting up to his feet. “Don’t touch me,” he said reflexively to Tony, who shied back.</p><p>“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were meditating. I thought you couldn’t do it without your crystals, anyway. Can we walk and talk?” Tony said, pointing over his shoulder toward the lab. “No commentary needed, just another observer in case shit goes down.”</p><p>“What am <em>I </em>going to do if shit goes down?” John asked.</p><p>“I’m not fucking around,” Tony said. “Bruce could be seriously hurt, and he might need some of that comforting mojo thing you do. That’s your calling isn’t it?”</p><p>All the males were standing in a circle in the lab. “Where’s Nebula?” John asked.</p><p>“She uh,” Rhodey said. “Needed some alone time.”</p><p>Bruce was standing before the Gauntlet. He seemed mesmerized by the device and said, “It’s like I was made for this.” He picked up the glove.”</p><p>“You ready?” Tony asked.</p><p>Bruce grinned wryly and said,” Let’s do it.”</p><p>“Remember,” Tony said. “Everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago, just bringing them back to now. Today. Don’t change anything from the last five years,” Tony said and he glanced at John with a reassuring look.</p><p>Bruce nodded and said, “Got it.”</p><p>The effect when the Gauntlet was fully on Bruce’s hand was immediate. He began to groan in pain and slumped to one knee. Colorful bolts of light cascaded up and down his right arm. He snapped his fingers, the gauntlet flew of his hand, and Bruce collapsed fully to the ground.</p><p>John rushed to kneel beside Bruce, as did Tony. Tony sprayed…something along Bruce’s arm while Bruce continued to moan and groan. “Alright John. Do your thing,” Tony said.</p><p>John nodded and unbuckled his mask, shifting it up and away so that the light fell upon Bruce. Bruce gasped softly and said. “Wow. Thanks. Did it work?”</p><p>“Wait, what was that?” Clint said pointing at John’s.</p><p>“Just a few soothing  thoughts and sensations,” John said.</p><p>Clint’s cell phone started buzzing. Everything happened quickly then. Or maybe it just felt that way because John was unconscious for a few minutes from the blast.</p><p>John didn’t marvel at the fact that he, a mere human, survived Thanos’s first/second attack on Earth because. Tony was dying. He knew Natasha’s death wouldn’t satisfy as a bargain for undoing the biggest event in the Universe since the Big Bang.</p><p>He wished it wasn’t Tony. He had thought he was doing everything to make sure it wasn’t Tony. But the Universe loves screwing people over.</p><p>Once Pepper had her hcance to say goodbye she waved John over. Tony and John shared a look as John removed his mask totally. “Hey pal. I’ve been meaning to show something.”</p><p>The light fell across Tony’s face and he passed to the other side. John gathered up a small echo of Tony’s final thoughts. He held out his hand for Pepper and turned his head, passing those thoughts to her. Pepper’s eyes welled with tears and she said, “Thank you.”</p>
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